GREAT DEAL: $50/Month Buys You Almost Unlimited Golf and Four Course Dinners Around the Country

You may have heard of ClubCorp – they own many clubs around the U.S. and a few internationally. Mostly golf-oriented, a lot of the clubs are country clubs, plus a few business clubs and fitness clubs, with a smattering of other types, like the Frisco Gun Club.

If you’re a member of one of their clubs, you receive several reciprocal benefits at all their clubs. The cost of joining a club is generally $200-500 per month. However, they also have a thing called ClubCorp Travel. I get the impression it’s fairly new. For $50 a month I get the following benefits:

– 2 waived green fees per month, per club*
– Free club borrowing
– 2 “free” four-course meals per month, per club* (actually, there’s a 20% service charge – but still a great deal)
– Access to any of their business clubs
– Free use of fitness facilities
– Several different types of discounts at third party vendors
– Plus other benes

* – at any club not within 100 miles of your home

I don’t golf, but I quite enjoy nice dinners. I signed up on the value of the 80% off dinners alone.

I’ve used the dinner benefit 4 times now – at the Metropolitan Club in Chicago (awesome food, awesome view!); the City Club of Washington, D.C., (Excellent food), the Houston Club (good food, great staff, amazing fitness facilities); and at the Baylor Club in Waco (meh. Was very worth the $8.30 I paid – but it didn’t wow me.)

There is a $1000 initiation fee – but that is currently waived if you sign up on their website: http://www.clubcorp.com/Clubs/ClubCorpTravel

For the frequent traveler who either likes to golf on his trips or enjoys nice dinners, this is a great deal.

More From View from the Wing

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

[…] when someone sees that you also have a home in the area where you’ve been golfing. And, Golfingboy adds the following concert on View from the Wing’s post: “… they also do ask for your billing address, so if your primary address and billing […]

You provide the address. We have a membership associated with golf club at our second club. I provided my home address as my primary address and therefore can’t play in 100 mile regions of where I live.

I’ll be honest it’s nice dining and some of the courses are pretty nice, but I don’t use it every month and don’t really feel we’re getting great value. Each dinner with my wife still costs around $80 due to drinks, service charge and gratuities. If you bring a guest it gets expensive real quick.

ETA: Found the answers and a few information that might be of interest to everyone… Sorry for spamming – would be nice to have an edit feature…

Regarding Guests:

ClubCorp Travel Members may take guests when using their ClubCorp Travel benefits, subject to the participating club’s guest policies and any additional restrictions. Standard guest fees apply and vary by participating club.

Regarding Residency and those owning multiple properties:

Proof of residency may be required. ClubCorp Travel is a limited membership program currently available only in select markets and residency restrictions apply. Place(s) of residence and business are determined by ACI in its sole and absolute discretion. The intent of the ClubCorp Travel Membership is to allow such members to participate in benefits while traveling away from any residence where a person may be staying for an extended period. To enforce this intent, ACI may, at its discretion, restrict the use of the ClubCorp Travel benefits by ClubCorp Travel Members in certain areas, including, but not limited to, areas where they may own or maintain vacation properties, second homes, rental properties or other properties that can be used as dwellings or areas where they may maintain a business presence.

A little more detail about a couple benefits:

Each ClubCorp Travel Membership includes the following benefits:

Two (2) complimentary green fees per participating club per month – Tee times may be made up to 21 days in advance for play anytime Monday – Friday and on weekends and holidays after 12:00 p.m., subject to availability. Carts are required and standard cart fees apply.

Two (2) complimentary meals per participating business club per month – Each meal includes one item per course, which includes appetizer, soup or salad, entrée, and dessert as well as regular coffee, tea or soft drink. Alcoholic beverages, services charges and applicable taxes are excluded. Reservations are subject to availability.

Complimentary access to TaylorMade loaner clubs – Upon request, participating clubs will provide a courtesy set of golf clubs for use by ClubCorp Travel Members at no additional fee, subject to availability.

Access to ClubLine concierge services – ClubCorp Travel Members have the opportunity to purchase tickets to various theater, concerts and sporting events and to reserve additional pay-as-you-go dining access at participating business clubs, subject to availability.

Hi Joe, thank you for sharing your experience with this Travel-version membership, do you know if we can still hit the driving range for free (similar to most Country Clubs with pyramids of golf balls out there and ready)? Before signing the 12-month commitment I’d like to find out the normal driving range policies for folks with the travel version.

I agree, cart fees and extremely limited restaurants doesn’t sound promising. Plus the guest pays full price. We usually walk for our 10,000 steps when playing our local course. So the only benefit I see would be driving range time.

I have the ClubCorp “Club O.N.E.” membership instead. Sounds like a better fit for those of you also wanting discounted access in your hometown both to golf and dining. You join a local ClubCorp Business Club (go with the cheapest club they offer in your area), then $35 is added on for Club O.N.E. membership.

You (& your guests) dine 1/2 price at your local club(s) (food only) and play for cart fees only (2 rounds/month usually $20-$30/ea) at your local ClubCorp golf course(s). The benefits outside the 100 mile radius of your home club are then the same as the ClubCorp Travel program outlined above (guests pay full price).

My family gets a LOT of value from this membership, because there are a lot of ClubCorps within close proximity, and we also travel quite a bit. I don’t think it would be worth it if you, or your spouse, aren’t golfers and/or don’t make at least one monthly fine dining reservation at one of their clubs (made thru their own ClubLine).

As for the Travel program alone, we always check the ClubCorp listings for free (food) dining anytime we are out of town. The results have been surprising! From the Outer Banks of N. Carolina to Downtown Los Angeles and Buckhead Atlanta, we have always had a tasty and memorable experience along with an attractive discount. They are venues we ordinarily would not know about from a guide book/Eater (etc) or otherwise have access to, and city tower views are typically stellar.

If you sign up you should be a golfer and a fine diner, so expect your monthly bill to be at least twice your dues from use. For dining only, we always use a credit card that bonuses restaurants rather than transferring dining charges to our account for monthly pay. ClubCorp dining rooms post as a “restaurant” vs. paying the monthly bill in total which then only posts as an “other” charge. Club dues aren’t tax write-offs, so this method also works out fine in terms of record keeping.

bit the bullet and joined. great deal. golfed and stayed at firestone. made the entire year’s dues worth it. plan on mission hills and palm springs clubs this winter. make a weekend trip anywhere and it’ll be worth it. took a guest golfing for work where i would not have been able to in san diego. dining at downtown clubs is an additional perk. golfed at gainey ranch in scottsdale before as a guest and can’t wait to go back for cart fee only.

I signed up back in June when this post was wrote. It’s a great deal if you travel allot. We have visited many of the clubs for dinner & have saved quite a bit. Also the gospel brunch at the house of blues is a great deal since you get 2 free tickets per month. For $25 or $50 per month it’s a great deal and anyone interested better signup before January 1st because they sent out an e-mail saying that the $1,000 signup fee is only waived until Dec 31st.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.

Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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